Enhancing the Effects of Teacher Attunement to Student Peer Group Affiliations on the School Social-Affective Context: Promotive Effects of the SEALS Intervention

Hamm, Jill V.

Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' attunement to student peer group affiliations as a factor in students' experiences of the school social-affect context. First, the author and her colleagues hypothesize that teacher attunement will be greater in intervention versus control schools following initial SEALS training. Second, they predict that experiencing the SEALS program will enhance the effects of teacher attunement to peer group affiliations. That is, they predict that there will be a moderating effect of teacher attunement on an intervention effect. Multiple indicators of students' experiences of the social-affective context are tested in relation to the interactive effects of intervention and teacher attunement: sense of belonging, valuing of school, perceived norms for effort and achievement, perceived emotional risk of participation, and perceptions of the school bullying context. The findings from this study help to clarify a condition under which the SEALS intervention has particularly promotive benefits: when teachers start with an understanding of student peer group affiliations. With this greater understanding, teachers are better able to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for students. It was unexpected that teacher attunement did not differ by intervention condition, but it may be the case that in these rural schools, many of which are small and in small communities, teachers naturally possess greater attunement. However, the findings suggest that participation in the SEALS program enhances the benefits of teacher attunement, possibly because teachers learn strategies for how to act on that understanding. Explanations for this relationship, and its implications both for student adjustment and teacher preparation will be discussed in the presentation. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)